Benefits
ZenGRC allows for easy user management directly from common SAML Single Sign-On (SSO) Identity Providers (IdPs), such as Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS) and Okta.
Through the creation of matching user groups between ZenGRC and your organization's IdP, users can be managed completely on the IdP level with no management on the ZenGRC side.
SAML group users are not automatically provisioned. The account is created when a user tries to access ZenGRC.
Overview
By enabling group-based role handling on the ZenGRC SAML Settings page, administrators reduce setup time and increase security by only managing users in one place.
Any user in an IdP group corresponding with the identical ZenGRC group can log in to ZenGRC and be allowed access at the appropriate permission level.
At each ZenGRC login, permission changes in the connected SSO IdP are checked and enforced as follows (expand the boxes below):
Setting the Connection
Creating a SAML SSO connection between ZenGRC and your IdP must be done in order for group role handling to be enabled.
To set up SAML SSO on your ZenGRC instance,
please see → SAML 2.0 / SSO Initial Setup Instructions.
Enabling Group-Based Roles
After setting up SAML SSO, there are additional steps in your IdP and ZenGRC instance to enable groups.
IdP Set Up
The last step in your IdP is to add an attribute called "groups." Each IdP differs in navigation, but the following shows an example page where attributes are added.
IMPORTANT → The attribute must be lower case and without quotes; otherwise, the connection will prompt an error.
The XML generated when this attribute is added looks similar to the example below:
Step 1 →
In the left-hand navigation, click Settings | Authentication.
Step 2 →
Click on Manage Groups.
Step 3 →
Select Enable group-based role handling in ZenGRC.
Step 4 →
Update group names so they are identical in ZenGRC and your organization's IdP.
TIP → ZenGRC provides default names for you to use; however, they can be changed if needed. Be certain any change made in ZenGRC is also replicated in your IdP.
